Oregon M Emerald
ALL-AMERICAN 1946-47
The Oregon Daily Emerald, official publication of che University of Oregon, published
daily during the college year except Sundays, Mondays, and final examination periods
Entereu as second-class nmter at the postoffice. Eugene, Ore.
Member of the Associated Collegiate Press
BOB FRAZIER. Editor BOB CHAPMAN, Business Manager
• -n-s JUNE GOETZE, BOBOLEE BROPHY
r-" Managing Editor Co-News Editors
DUN FAIR FRED TAYLOR
Co-Sports Editor
walt McKinney, jeanne simmonds, maryann thielen
Associates to Editor _
phf^WshehmaF* winny caki.
As® Al?nnging EdftOT Advertising Malaga_
DIANA DYE JIM WALi-ACE
Assistant Nws Editors
National Advertising Manager.....-.-Marilyn Turner
Circulation Manager .....Billi Jean Riethi_.tller
Jane Russell Has Her Points
Columnist Finally Agrees
By MIKE CALLAHAN
One of these days we are going to sit down to a large plate
•of our own words, and eat them comma by comma. The words
concern one Jane Russell, actress, and lately singer by pro
fession.
Miss Russell is the number one attraction both in the re
cords and on the cover, of an album just released by Colum
bia. Titled “Let’s Put Out the Light,” this offering lives up
to its name better than anything except a short-circuit. Be
sides the title song it includes “Body and Soul,” “I Must
Have That Man.” “Do It Again,” “Love For Sale,” “Two
Sleepy People,” “A Hundred Years From Today,” and “Until
the Real Thing Comes Along.”
The "them” girl sings in a low, breathless voice that is
well-perfumed with s-x. As the cover blurb puts it, she sings
“incredibly close to your shoulder.” She may be s-xational
but she's also good, very good. Which brings us to the matter
of the words.
Some months back this column plugged a collection bv
Diana Lynn, young M-G-M star, and a pianist with a couple
of original trills to her stylings. At the same time we heaved
a passing brick at Russell, whose jive waxings with Victor’s
Kay Kyser were as jumpy as a lead balloon. Shortly there
after Lynn quit recording and Russell switched from hot to
hotter by signing with Columbia. We found our predictions
batting a perfect zero.
Jane Russell has two strikes against her in the vocal biz,
her own billboard publicity and Peggy Lee. Lee is currently
leading the "low and intimate” league for Capitol. But if
Russell can top her “Outlaw” reputation and a tendency to
lose control of her voice on low or sustained notes she will be
in. In the top ranks, that is.
Platter lines: If every crooner must have his year, we
pick ’48 as the Mel 'forme year. Tonne (e as in a) has drawn
a steady rave from the Broadway press and has jaunted the
whole million-dollar circuit. And we mean million-dollar;
with nitcspot dates, a Hollywood contract, and his own radio
show, 'forme has hit the big money brackets.
Now Musicraft (whose small string includes such glitter
ing names as Diz Gillespie, Teddy Wilson- and Carl Sand
burg) has jumped on the 'forme express with an album of his
best. As if the 'forme name weren't enough to skyrocket
sales, Musicraft has packed its offering with a strong list of
all-timers. These include: "The Day You Came Along,” “Fine
and Dandy,.fhree Little Words,” “I Can’t Give You Any
thing But Love, Baby,” "i'll Always Be in Love With You,”
and "Love, You Funny 'filing.”
forme's singing style is best described in the words of his
former G.l. audience as "the velvet fog.” High and thin in the
upper registers, Tonne’s voice broadens into some of the
smoothest lower tones we’ve ever heard. This style first
formay-ized" the dogfaces, and from these hit the big time
with Artie Shaw in "What Is This Thing Called Love.” With
this new popular collection released, the Tonne future looks
like "ceiling unlimited.”
Great hits department: With the discompanies already
rationing out their stockpiles of new releases, look for some
topnoteh reissues to become available. With this column we
take a second look at the outstanding oldtimers now being
rewaxed.
"Sugar Blues" by Clyde McCoy and "Wabash Blues" (pair
ed with "Stumbling”) by Russ Morgan are two of the finest
trumpet clasics ever cut. First pressed in the great days of
Bunny Berrigan’s sky-climbing horn, these two set a unique
trumpet style. McCoy’s control of his instrument was so pre
cise that his famed "wah-wah" (later adopted by singer Bonnie
Baker) tones seemed almost human. Russ Morgan followed
McCoy’s lead but varied it with his own high-weaving solos.
Don’t miss them; their arrangements are now a lost art.
i
Liberal Groups Urged to Purge
Communists from Their Ranks
The tendency to label persons with whom
we disagree as communists or fascists is get
ting the American people into a bad habit. It
creates fear and distrust- results in disunity,
and weakens our domestic and foreign policy.
It is time we made our choice between emo
tional patriotism and imperturbable courage.
The weak always believe the pseudo-Christs
who prevail from right or left, but we must
have a few who will reason and dissuade in
the midst of the stampede. The lengths to
which'we seem prone to go in fighting com
munism will gain us little if we lose our lib
erty in the process.
Communists always grovel in the shadows
of liberalism. The liberal parties have been
guilty of irresolution in dealing with them,
but Ave should not alloAV this to indict the
Avhole liberal movement. The hope of the lib
erals must be premised upon the vigil they
keep to repel the Communists. Associate Avith
communism and you destroy liberalism; de
stroy liberalism and you paA'e the Avay for a
police state.
If the democratic processes in our nation
are just, if the gOA’ernment is efficient, if the
schools are free, if students learn to think in
terms of the historical deAelopment of civili
zation, Ave shall groAv to appreciate man’s
ewolutionary struggle for self determination.
If avc educate our youth in terms of the lit
erature, the art, the music, the philosophy,
and the history of man, and if Ave balance this
Avith technical training, Ave shall develop dis
cerning men and good voters.
A person Avith a full stomach and a free
Avill is rarely searching for communism, a
creed Avhicli is more likely to appeal to the
DY 11C9 VV /iHU ^
ill-clad, the ill-housed- and the hungry. To
fear communism is to admit the class war.
We need not fear Communism if we attack
the defeat in our system of government with
a view to correcting them.
In 1948 many people will vote for liberal 1
candidates. For the sake of the sincere, and
the preservation of our elective system, we
must not overlook the danger of labeling all
liberals as leftists. We must inquire as to the
motives of those who attempt to besmirch
the intent of the liberal party. Why do they
try to kill the liberal party?
Purge the communists from liberal ranks.
Define the issues. Determine who is con
servative, who liberal and who communistic. 1
Then we can know of whom we speak; then
we can identify our neighbor’s belief. Be- j
cause we would know, we would not fear. We
could have confidence in a government where
liberals, conservatives, and communists vie
for ELECTIVE office. If we cannot believe
the voters will select the good, we cannot up
hold constitutional government. The com
munists do not like the liberal party, which
is as indigestible to them as “gold exchange.”
Communists go all the way, and this they
cannot do as liberals.
As we come nearer the showdown, the
liberals will move to the middle of the road,
the conservatives will move more to the
side of the vested interests and the militarists,
and the communists will continue to spread
their mental excretions. But honest, educated- 4
detecting voters will spurn the overtures of
the right and left alike. Such is the historical
evolution of political movements. Dialectic?
Maybe.
Utah Daily Writer Sees Liberalism
As Division of Wealth> Responsibility
(Reprinted from an article by David S. Kahn
the Utah Daily Chronicle)
For all practical purposes, a man is a liberal if
he is called one. However, if we are to know lib
erals by other methods than the “expedient” ways
of politics, it is necessary to be impractical. We
must try to measure the man by some objective
standard.
There is nothing very wrong with saying that
a man is liberal to the extent that he believes it is
possible to enhance the dignity of his fellowman.
It is just that there remains a big problem of decid
ing how much that “extent” is.. One might say
that a hundred per cent liberal was a fellow who
believed that there should be an absolutely equal
division of everything; be it social prestige, politi
cal responsibility, or physical wealth.
SINCE HUNDRED-PERCENTERS are a bit
cracked, I see nothing wrong in assuming that lib
erals have a lunatic fringe. But if a man is less
than hundred per cent liberal, as most men are,
what foreign doctrine shall we have compromising
his good intentions ? I believe we can best assume
that the faith at the opposite pole of liberalism is
authoritarianism. For the liberal emphasizes the
common factors in man, and the authoritarian em
phasizes the differences.
A hundred per cent authoritarian would have
one man supreme, a philosopher prince, before
whom all subordinate men would have to cringe
and crawl like dogs in the meadow. But most lib
erals must qualify their attempt to elevate the
status of humans by the practical realization that
there are differences among men. We may say,
then, that a man’s faith in humanity can be meas
ured by finding out simultaneously the degrees to
which he feels it is desirable or inevitable that au
tharity be buttressed.
IN A DEMOCRATIC society, it is politic for a
man to claim he is “liberal” because he holds to
the flattering tenet that it is possible to increase
the dignity of the voter. And so one comes to think
of liberalism as the idealistic position. This need
not be for two reasons. First of all, the Platonic
vision of a “philosopher king” certainly has a uto
pian concept of the attainments to which common
clay can aspire. Secondly, a liberal can take the
cynical position that we are all sufficiently irre
sponsible and unenligh'teneed that absolute power
will only corrupt a man absolutely. And so he may
argue that no matter what the weaknesses of a lib
eral society, nothing can be worse than the total
and absolute corruption of absolute rulers.
Thus, a liberal might find the common elements *
of man by glancing into the gutter. Aside from the
problem of idealism, there are two main points
at which there is confusion, in identifying the “lib
eral.” One is the narrow belief that only one par
ticular proposal can be consistent with liberal be- 1
liefs. It is clear, however, that men can advocate
diametrically opposed policies and remain liberals
if their prime motivation is a desire to enhance
human dignity while correspondingly reducing
the power of an elite. Thus, sincere liberals were ?
opposed to the New Deal because it seemed to in
volve an undue concentration of power. *
The other point of confusion is the belief that
militancy in the sense of accepting discipline and
authority to accelerate reforms is “more liberal.”
It is certainly more radical in that in this way the
old order may fall more quickly. But clearly, it is
not more liberal. Althought he is not, the com- 1
munist should be embarrased by the similarity in
the political relationship of the citizen to the state „
in prewar Germany and in Russia.
IF WE ARE GOING to determine the extent
to which a man is liberal, beyond making a shrewd
guess, we must have a yardstick. To do so, one
must arbitrarily assume some criteria and norms. '
For example, one may assume that there are
three main spheres of activity in which it is pos
sible to enhance the dignity of man; social, political
and economic.
Thus, a typical liberal viewpoint would favor *
racial equality, the secret ballot, and unions, re
spectively. All these sample institutions diversify
power more greatly and in so doing enhance the
dignity of the individual. An elaborate test of this
nature could be drawn up and scored for liberalism
from zero to one hundred. Our norm could have
it that those scoring under thirty could be classi
fied as authoritarian. I think this scoring system-'-—
shows my bias. Such a test may show me up, but
I think I'm a liberal.